Gordinho embraces new role at Chiefs

The 25-year-old, however, started Amakhosi’s first game of the new campaign, albeit in an unfamiliar let back position but he doesn’t mind and understands coach Ernst Middendorp’s reasons for playing him there.

“Based on the Carling Cup selection, I had to play that position,” he says. Amakhosi fans had not voted any natural left-back in their team for the preseason match against Orlando Pirates which forced the technical team to assign Gordinho in that position.

“The coach then decided to go with the same formation into last weekend’s game and it was good being ack of the field. Being part of the set up and in the starting XI,” added Gordinho.

The team’s defence did however look to be struggling and conceding two goals from defensive blunders was evidence of this. But Gordinho believes they did fairly well under awkward conditions at Highlands Park’s unfriendly Makhulong Stadium.

“Highlands Park play like that. They pump balls behind you and chase them. That is why the defence will look like they don’t know what they were doing and just running up and down. We tried our best to stop that. And despite conceding the two goals, I think we had a decent game considering it was our first game of the season,” he explained.

“We are obviously not happy about conceding two goals. And we are working on fixing those situations. It will be better in the next game,” he promised.

Amakhosi’s net game is a home fixture at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban against a wounded Black Leopards who lost their opening match last weekend.

“They have a lot of new signings. Their defeat means nothing because against Chiefs it’s a different story,” said Gordinho who spent a year on loan at Celtic before being recalled midway through last season.

“Being away was beneficial for me in that I played about 20 games. It was good experiencing a different setup from Chiefs and understanding how things work at other teams. Being a team like Celtic was a fantastic experience,” he said of his time away.    

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